Tony Mowbray made one change against Watford, following Sunderland's win last weekend at West Bromwich Albion. Mowbray brought Patrick Roberts back into the side, replacing Abdoullah Ba.
Ba was included on the bench. Watford boss Chris Wilder made three changes, in his case to the side that lost 1-0 at Hull City last weekend, with that defeat killing off their chances of a play-off spot.
Hamza Choudhury, Yaser Asprilla, and Keinan Davis came into the side, in place of Ismael Kone, Leandro Bacuna, and Joao Pedro. Kone and Bacuna were included on the bench, but there was no place in the matchday squad for 11-goal leading scorer Joao Pedro, who has been strongly linked this week with a summer move to Brighton.
READ MORE: Sunderland vs Watford LIVE: All the build-up from the Stadium of Light
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Today's teams
Sunderland: Patterson, Gooch, Hume, O'Nien, Cirkin, Ekwah, Neil, Roberts, Amad, Clarke, Gelhardt
Subs: Bass, Michut, Ba, Pritchard, Lihadji, Anderson, Taylor
Watford: Bachmann, Andrews, Porteous, Kabasele, Kamara, Choudhury, Sarr, Sema, Louza, Asprilla, Davis
Subs: Hamer, Araujo, Morris, Ngakia, Bacuna, Hoedt, Kone
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